Near Ronni Chasen's Murder Spot, Eerily Similar Incidents

Police are now saying that Harold Smith, the erstwhile suspect who shot himself when police tried to question him about Ronni Chasen’s murder, probably didn’t kill the Hollywood publicist—and now the Daily Beast takes an extensive, and exclusive, look at the latest developments in the still-baffling case. Highlights:

• Days before Chasen’s murder, another woman driving in a nearby area was threatened through her car window by a gunman whom she suspected of being in a gang. She claims there have been multiple shootings and carjackings in the area recently.
• Ten days after Chasen’s death, a Los Angeles man survived being shot multiple times through the passenger side of his car—as Chasen was—at around the same hour as Chasen’s murder.

• Experts say that, despite previous reports and rumors, Chasen’s killer didn’t have to be a professional, noting that a hit man likely would have used a silencer—and that, at such close range as she was shot, “a schlemiel could have done this” and hit her accurately, says one.
• The wife of the Beverly Hills police chief reportedly told one of Chasen’s friends, “The press have it all wrong. That story about the guys on motorcycles, the cameras at the stoplight, all of it—it’s all wrong. They don’t know what they’re talking about.”

Click here for the full piece, or click for background on Ronni Chasen’s murder. (More Ronni Chasen stories.)